Not a whole lot shifted in the team-scoring dynamics in prelims on day 1. Everyone looked very fast, and the top 6 teams all did what they needed to do. The only chink in the armor might have been Auburn’s 400 medley, which B-finaled, but they more than made up with that with an awesome 200 free relay and 6 (SIX!) finalists in the 50 free.
In addition to a ton of school records, Stanford also broke a big one by taking down Texas’ American Record in the 200 free relay in prelims.
200 free relay
The Auburn men started this meet on fire in the 200 free relay, and took the top overall seed in a blazing 1:15.50. This includes an 18.93 leadoff flat-start from Adam Brown, and an awesome 18.68 from mid-season pickup Marcelo Chierighini as the anchor. That’s an encouraging sign from the Brazilian, since we weren’t sure what to expect after he fully tapered for World Championships in December (prior to enrolling at Auburn). On the eye-ball test for the Tigers, they swam with an unrivaled intensity in this prelims race, and it will take a notch up in effort for anyone to catch them.
The Stanford men finished 2nd, despite an extremely tight start from anchor Austin Staab (.03 reaction time) that elicited a loud “oooh” from the crowd at the Minnesota Aquatics Center. As it is, his start was just about perfect, and Stanford rode every inch to a new American Record of 1:15.84, clearing the old mark of 1:15.90 set by the Texas boys back in 2009. Texas was 3rd in the prelims today in 1:16.66.
Among the other leadoff splits we saw from individual contenders, Texas’ Jimmy Feigen was a 19.02, Arizona’s Adam Small was a 19.35, Cal’s Nathan Adrian was a 19.00, and the touch pad had an error on Richards’ split from Minnesota, who made the A-final (home pool advantage?). Also, it was great to see the Clemson men qualify 9th and just barely missing the A-final by .02 off of Virginia.
No big surprises in this race, aside from how fast it was. Going to be a quick one, so strap your Speedos on tight!
500 free
Remember how Auburn is a “sprinting school” and Brett Hawke “can’t recruit distance guys”? Apparently, that’s changed. Auburn freshman Zane Grothe posted a new Auburn school record of 4:16.57 in prelims to qualify for the A-final in the 500. Virginia’s Matt McLean, apparently ignoring the fact that it was just a prelim, posted a great 4:12.26 to take the top seed, which is a season-best time by over a second. Stanford’s Bobby Bollier was 2nd in prelims in 4:14.84, and Florida’s Conor Dwyer had an easy prelims swim (he was well out in front of his heat) to take the 3rd seed in 4:15.55.
Texas also had two A-finalists. Michael McBroom was 4th and Jackson Wilcox was 8th. This is of note since the Longhorns didn’t score any points in this race last season.
Cal’s best hope to score in this race, freshman Jeremy Bagshaw, added a little bit of time and missed the B-final. Fortunately, he received a big pick-me-up from teammate Sam Metz, who had a great swim in an early heat to B-final. Stanford’s Morgan Priestley, who was a top 10 seed, also fell out of the finals. Other than that, no big surprises.
200 IM
Stanford’s Austin Staab is a bit of a newcomer, in the elite sense, in this 200 IM, but he held up his top overall seed with a 1:42.91 to lead prelims. Georgia’s Bill Cregar, who is better in the 400, was 2nd in 1:43.21. Arizona’s Cory Chitwood rounded out the top 3, followed by Kyle Whitaker and Austin Surhoff.
Defending champion Austin Surhoff of Texas hung back in prelims in 1:44.12, but that was a coy swim by him based on how well Texas has swum early. His teammate Nick D’Innocenzo also was off a little in prelims and barely missed the A-final, but will swim 9th. Cal earned 3 potential scorers in what was viewed as one of the “weaker” (I use that term relatively) events in the meet, which is a good sign for them.
50 free
Nathan Adrian’s 19.0 in the relay? Just a warmup. 18.76 in prelims? Flying. That time was just off of his American Record (18.71) as well as the pool record (18.74). Cal’s Graeme Moore also just barely snuck into finals with a 19.36, and Josh Daniels will be in the B. Adam Brown appears to not be showing any ill effects of his trip to the UK so far, with an 18.91 to take the 2nd seed. Stanford’s Alex Coville has the 3rd seed in 19.01.
The final will be loaded with big names, with Vlad Morozov, Jimmy Feigen, Adam Small, and Auburn’s Karl Krug all hitting the A-final. Auburn and Cal are the only teams with two in the A-final, and Auburn continues an amazing run with 2 swimmers in the A as well as 4 in the B-final. Clemson’s Eric Bruck also made the B-final, continuing an improbable run for the Tigers.
There were a couple of big misses in this race. Minnesota’s Michael Richards, who was the 2nd seed, made the B-final, and Virginia’s Scot Robison, though not seeded high but still hoping to make the B-final, was well out of a second swim. That won’t be too bad for Robison, however, as it allows him to focus on some important relays tonight.
400 medley relay
A lot of teams sandbagged this 400 medley relay by leaving some of their A-swimmers off for prelims, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t put up some great times. Texas (with Dax Hill on the anchor in 41.84) put up a 3:05.61 which easily gave them the top overall seed. An awesome split by Scott Spann on the breaststroke (51.24, even better than Cal’s Dugonjic) made the big difference for them. Florida, the top overall seed, was 2nd in 3:07.27, and Ohio State was 3rd in 3:07.68, which is easily a school record for them.
The Cal men were 4th in 3:08.03, but Shields was obviously not going all-out, and Shayne Fleming swam the anchor in place of Adrian, which will likely change tonight. Stanford was 5th, with Bobby Bollier on the fly leg to give Staab as much rest as possible before a 3-swim final tonight.
Scot Robison had a huge bounceback from a mediocre 50 to put up the fastest 100 free anchor split in 41.44 (though the top 4-seeded 100 freestylers all swam another leg or sat the race out). The Virginia men, overall, swam extremely well in this prelims session. The only team that surprised to miss the A-final was Auburn, who have otherwise swum very well in this meet.
Thanks for the catch…don’t know how I missed that, I tweeted at him about it.
Yeah, they didn’t look awesome. The good news (from their perspective) is that this is by far their weakest day of the meet, so they don’t need a lead after day 1.
Actually Cal did get a B finalist in sam Metz who dropped 5 seconds to a 4:18.9. But outside of him and Adrian Cal doesn’t look too good.